Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
This invention relates to liquid dispensers, and in particular to devices for dispensing quantities of liquids, such as cleaning liquids and liquids containing a dissolved cleaning product, from under the rim of a toilet bowl.
Toilet bowls require care to prevent the buildup of unsightly deposits, to reduce odors and to prevent bacteria growth. Traditionally, toilet bowls have been cleaned, deodorized and disinfected by manual scrubbing with a liquid or powdered cleaning and sanitizing agent. This task has required manual labor to keep the toilet bowl clean.
In order to eliminate the manual scrubbing, various automatic continuous cleaning toilet bowl cleaning products have been proposed. One type of product comprises a solid block or solid particles of a cleansing and freshening substance that is suspended from the rim of a toilet bowl in a container that is placed in the path of the flushing water. U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,309 shows an example of this type of toilet bowl cleaning system. Typically, a portion of the solid block is dissolved in the flush water with each flush, and the flush water having dissolved product is dispensed into the toilet bowl for cleaning the bowl. These solid block toilet cleaning systems have certain disadvantages such as a short lifetime and a decline in the amount of cleaning and deodorizing agents released into the toilet bowl as the solid block deteriorates.
Other automatic, continuous cleaning, toilet bowl cleaning systems use a liquid cleaning agent that is dispensed into a toilet bowl. For example, European Patent Application Nos. EP-0538957 and EP-0785315, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,178,564 B1 and 6,230,334 B1, and PCT International Publication Nos. WO 99/66139 and WO 99/66140 all disclose cleansing and/or freshening units capable of being suspended from the rim of a toilet bowl for the purpose of introducing liquid active substances from a bottle into the flushing water with each flush. Typically, the liquid active substances may include one of more of the following: surfactants (such as a mixture of an anionic surfactant and a nonionic surfactant), solvents, sequesterants, pH controllers, thickeners, preservatives, fragrances, and dyes.
While these under the toilet rim liquid dispensing toilet bowl cleaning systems provide an improved alternative to the solid block toilet cleaning systems described above, it may be difficult to incorporate certain toilet bowl cleaning actives, such as bleaches and various hypochlorites, into the liquid active substance. In this regard, bleaches and hypochlorites may affect properties of the components of the liquid active substance. For example, bleaches and hypochlorites will typically fade the color of a dye and destroy a fragrance upon extended contact. Also, certain incompatible cleaning actives may not be stable when mixed and through the resulting chemical interaction, the efficacy of the individual cleaning actives may be decreased. For instance, the efficacy of certain surfactants may be decreased by bleaches and hypochlorites. These limitations in liquid dispensing cleaning systems have prevented the optimization of toilet bowl cleaning active substances in one liquid formulation. In particular, the inability to incorporate bleaches and hypochlorites into a liquid active substance is especially detrimental as bleaches and hypochlorites are particularly effective in destroying bacteria and preventing biofilm formation.
Binary cleaning systems have been proposed for certain applications such as drain cleaning. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,048. In such systems, the components are separately stored and mixed at the time of use. However, manual mixing defeats the automatic nature of toilet bowl cleaning systems, and automatic mixing systems suitable for administering such two part cleaners are too large and bulky for mounting under a toilet bowl rim.
One disadvantage with both solid block toilet bowl cleaning systems and liquid dispensing toilet bowl cleaning systems is the timing in which liquid substances are delivered to the toilet bowl. Often, the dissolved solid product and the liquid substances are only delivered to the toilet bowl during a toilet flush. However, it has been discovered that one key to more effective toilet bowl cleaning is having some cleaning actives remain in the bowl after the flush. As a result, solid block toilet bowl cleaning systems and liquid dispensing toilet bowl cleaning systems that only deliver active cleaning substances to a toilet bowl during a flush may not achieve maximum cleaning effectiveness.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved device that can dispense quantities of cleaning and freshening liquids from under the rim of a toilet bowl both during and after a flush and that can deliver a greater variety of cleaning actives to a toilet bowl, including incompatible cleaning actives.
The foregoing needs are met by a dispensing device according to the invention in which a flow of water during a toilet flush is used to dispense toilet bowl treatment preparations into a toilet bowl. The dispensing device comprises a bottle for holding a liquid, a base for holding the bottle, a wicking device supported by the base, a container attached to the base, and means for suspending the base from a rim of the toilet bowl. The bottle has a mouth and a closure for covering the mouth, and the base has a piercing post. The wicking device is configured to convey the liquid from the post to a dispensing position within the flow of water from a toilet flush. The container holds a dissolvable product (typically a solid), and is configured to permit water from the flow of water to enter the container during a toilet flush. The container also has an exit opening configured to permit a mixture comprising water and dissolved product to be released from the container into the toilet bowl.
The wicking device of the dispensing device may comprise any number of different wicking structures including a dispensing plate having an upper surface including at least one feed channel in fluid communication with the piercing post of the base, a plate with holes formed therein, or a porous pad. In one form, the wicking device is movably supported by the base such that the wicking device can be adjusted to function with toilet bowls of different shapes and different flushing systems. The use of a movable wicking device assures that liquid from the bottle can be conveyed from the piercing post to a dispensing position within the flow of water during a toilet flush regardless of the toilet bowl shape or flushing system.
In one version of the invention, the container exit opening comprises a dispensing conduit configured to permit a mixture comprising water and dissolved product to be released from the container into the toilet bowl such that a portion of the mixture is released into the toilet bowl after the toilet flush is complete. The dispensing conduit of the container may comprise an approximately vertical tubular conduit. Importantly, the container may also be configured such that an amount of water from the flow of water remains in the container and contacts the dissolvable product after the toilet flush is complete. The container may include a housing and a cover capable of being opened to allow replacement of the dissolvable product. In one form, the container attaches to the bottom end of the base by a snap fit engagement.
In a dispensing device according to the invention, the liquid and dissolvable product dispensing systems work in concert when mounted in the toilet bowl (on the rim) and flush water is washed over the dispensing device. The liquid dispensing system dispenses out an amount of liquid onto the wicking device. This liquid may contain fragrance and surfactants that are necessary to provide toilet bowl freshening and foaming during the flush. When the toilet is flushed, flush water is directed over the wicking device to mix the liquid with flush water and deliver the diluted liquid to the toilet bowl. Also, when the toilet is flushed, flush water is directed into the container filling up the container and allowing the dissolvable solid product to mix with the water in the container. Slots in the container allow excess water to be directed out. The dispensing conduit is positioned as a drain mechanism metering out the water/dissolved solid product mixture. The metering out of the water/dissolved solid product mixture can be adjusted to deliver the mixture slowly after the flush is complete. This delay allows for the active cleaners in the dissolvable product to remain in the bowl and provide cleaning power between flushes. After each flush, a certain amount of water is left within the housing to mix with the solid dissolvable product, thereby making a concentrated pool of water/dissolved solid product mixture for the next flush to dispense into the bowl during and after a flush.
It is therefore an advantage of the present invention to provide an improved device that can dispense quantities of cleaning and freshening toilet bowl treatment preparations from under the rim of a toilet bowl both during and after a flush.
It is another advantage of the present invention to provide a device that can dispense a greater variety of cleaning actives to a toilet bowl from under the rim of a toilet bowl.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide a device that can dispense storage incompatible cleaning actives to a toilet bowl from under the rim of a toilet bowl such that most (or all) of the undesirable chemical interaction between the incompatible cleaning actives is preempted and the user will benefit from the superior properties of each of the incompatible cleaning actives through a single application of each of the incompatible cleaning actives.